Friday, September 8, 2017

Buckeyes Preview 9/8/17: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Oklahoma Sooners

It took Ohio State a half of football to find their rhythm against Indiana and put the Hoosiers to bed in week one. After looking out-of-sync for the first thirty minutes the Buckeyes came out and lit the field on fire in the second half. Ohio State won’t have the luxury of a half to work out the kinks against the #5 ranked Oklahoma Sooners as they head to Columbus Saturday night.

This time last year Ohio State went in to Norman and put a beating on Oklahoma, 45-24.

Baker Mayfield was a Heisman hopeful and went on to throw two interceptions, including a pick-six. Mayfield hasn’t forgotten what happened.

“Everybody that was here for last year’s huge loss definitely remembers that. And we talked about it during camp,” said Mayfield. “We’ve never been here for a team to sing their fight song on our field. Quite frankly it’s just embarrassing. It’s embarrassing.”

Mayfield understands the magnitude of this top-five matchup, and thinks that these two teams could meet up again at the end of this season.

“If you want a sneak peek at who’s going to be playing for a national title… you want to tune in to the one,” Mayfield said.

Ohio State understands that Oklahoma is coming in looking for revenge.

“Our approach to this game is it’s the biggest game of the year,” said wide receiver Parris Campbell, whose 74-yard touchdown catch helped the Buckeye offense get on track. It’s a big-time opponent, a top-10 matchup. We have to prepare that way. These guys are probably going to come in here with a chip on their shoulder from last year’s game.”

Oklahoma will have their hands full with Campbell and the rest of the Ohio State offense. But despite the second half offensive explosion, new offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson knows there is a lot of work to be done.

“Early we sputtered,” Wilson said. “I thought several times we called some plays that got us behind chains, and we left some points on the board. Sever third-down and manageables, we didn’t manage.”

Behind true freshman J.K. Dobbins 181 yards on the ground and three touchdowns and 304 yards through the air from J.T. Barrett, the new look offense of Kevin Wilson showed just how lethal it could be. Add the Buckeyes leading rusher from last season, Mike Weber, back into the mix and Ohio State will be ready to give a repeat performance from last year and put themselves on the path to another shot at a national championship.